The land occupied by the park was originally rice fields south of the Malacañang Palace across the Pasig River and was acquired by the government in the late 1930s.

The buildings were constructed by the Bureau of Public Works and designed by Juan Arellano and Antonio Toledo.

[1] President Manuel Roxas's administration expanded the golf course further and established a truck garden as part of its food self-sufficiency program while President Ramon Magsaysay's administration, as part of a housing program by the Government Service Insurance System for presidential guards and other employees, filled in the estuary dividing the Malacañang Park and the Bureau of Animal Industry.

[1] The Bahay ng Pagbabago is a contemporary house inside the Malacañang Park which has served as the official residence of two Philippine presidents; Benigno Aquino III and Rodrigo Duterte.

[3] The Presidential Security Group's headquarters, formerly the office of the Bureau of Animal Industry, is often associated with Malacanang Park.